Court battle over delays to new RAH suggests flagship hospital won’t open till June 2017 — peak flu season

OPENING of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital could occur during next year’s hectic flu season, more than 12 months after the $2.2 billion building was first expected to take patients.

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OPENING of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital could occur during next year’s hectic flu season, more than 12 months after the $2.2 billion building was first expected to take patients.

A court battle between new RAH consortium SA Health Partnership and the State Government on Thursday revealed that construction of the hospital is now not expected to finish until March, a date which triggers a 90-day testing and alteration period before patients can be treated at the site.

It means the Government would be unable to open the doors until June, the start of winter, a move Health Minister Jack Snelling told The Advertiser on Thursday is now under active consideration.

When a handover date for the hospital was anticipated this year, the Government ruled out moving during the 2016 flu season because of the already-high pressure on clinical staff.

Mr Snelling said a move next June would be considered, on the advice of clinicians.

“Moving in winter is problematic,” he said. “I’m not prepared to say at this stage whether it’s impossible. “It would really depend on how severe the flu season was.

“The last two years, the flu season has been very severe. This year the flu season has been relatively mild. There would be a whole range of factors we would have to have a look at.

“I’m certainly not prepared to rule out at this stage that we could move, particularly if it were in the first month or so, in winter. It might well be possible, but that’s something that I will get the advice about from the best doctors and nurses in the state on what’s safe to do.”

If the winter move is considered too difficult or dangerous, the Government may be forced to delay the opening to late 2017, leaving little time to fix teething problems before the March 2018 state election.

Opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital could occur during next year’s hectic flu season. Source: Facebook

It is understood the Government and SA Health Partnerships remain in complex negotiations about possible dates for the completion of construction, and what is required to achieve them.

Mr Snelling said he expected to be able to offer more certainty on a moving date within weeks, but “I won’t be making public a date until I have confidence that it’s a date that is achievable”.

“We expect to take delivery a hospital only when it’s ready and we certainly won’t be paying any taxpayers’ money to a hospital that’s not completely safe,” Mr Snelling said.

“I’ve always said that patient safety is my No. 1 priority.”

It is expected that delays in opening the hospital will ultimately save taxpayers about $400 million because the Government has not been required to begin paying the building consortium.

Mr Snelling said there would be a period of significant “teething problems” whenever the hospital opened as staff grappled with a new work environment and patients sought treatment at the state’s most advanced hospital rather than suburban sites.

“I would be astounded if there weren’t teething problems. As with all these things, we’re well-prepared and doing everything we can to mitigate it,” Mr Snelling said.

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said the Government must suspend its health system reforms, which include downsizing suburban emergency departments, until the new RAH opens.

“The fact there is no certainty regarding the likely opening date of the hospital and given the Weatherill Government and SA Health Partnership are locked in a bitter legal dispute the only reasonable course of action is to suspend the implementation,” he said.

“Pushing on with Transforming Health without access to the nRAH is reckless and dangerous.

“Today the hospital is more than seven months beyond its original completion date ... and the Weatherill Government is in court fighting with SA Health Partnerships about who will pay.”

The state had sought to have the case fast-tracked to a trial starting on September 21, but in the Supreme Court yesterday, said recent developments had allayed that urgency.

Lawyers for the state said SAHP had provided an updated “cure plan” last Friday, which pushed back the date for technical completion to March 17 next year.

Under the agreement, there must be a three-month period between technical completion and final handover, meaning the hospital could not open until mid-June next year.

Lawyers for SAHP told the court that an application by the state for the court to rule on whether Sydney lawyer Steven Goldstein had jurisdiction to form a report on the defects was not necessary.

They argued that all parties agreed Mr Goldstein had the power to identify whether problems in the construction constituted defects, but not whether he had jurisdiction to rule on the cost ramifications of any such defects.

Justice Malcolm Blue agreed to put off the matter to allow Mr Goldstein to firstly decide if he had jurisdiction.

The court also heard that it would save time and money if Mr Goldstein were allowed to complete his report and if all parties agreed there would be no jurisdictional issues.

Justice Blue adjourned the case for a further directions hearing on September 23.